CH 58

The trip to Zhang’s family went very smoothly, and they didn’t have dinner when they got home, but the two sons who were studying came back.

Seeing that Daqian was back again, Zhou Changlian looked disgusted, “Father, why did you bring him back?”

Even if he knew that his sister was not injured, he didn’t want Daqian to stay at home. He couldn’t work anymore, and if Daqian stayed with his family, he will take part of his resources.

Zhulan thought faintly, the third son still needs to be reformed, and his vision is short-sighted but then again, he was just a teenager. It was her fault to expect this child to understand what they understood.

Zhou Shuren was not angry either and motioned for the eldest son to carry the child back to the main room, then waved to the two sons who were studying and went to the younger son’s room to chat alone.

As for the eldest and second eldest, Zhou Shuren planned to chat with them after dinner because they would discuss different topics. The two younger sons would talk about their studies, while the two older sons would talk about family matters, so they couldn’t talk together.

About a quarter of an hour later, Second Zhou came back with an ox cart and brought back the Chinese medicine he had caught.

Second Zhou felt sorry for the cow, “It’s exhausted today.” He said, carefully touching the cow’s belly, and there was a cub in the belly, which was all money.

Zhulan also felt sorry for buying it for ten taels of silver, “I’ll give it two sticks of corn to add to its meal.”

Second Zhou said, “Yes, Mother.”

Zhulan turned around and paused. In modern times, money was just a number to her, but in ancient times, money was counted and spent carefully. She felt that she was becoming more and more impoverished. This wouldn’t do. She needed to have the drive to improve herself. She made up her mind to encourage and cheer on Zhou Shuren more in the evening. Whether or not they could have a good life this year would depend on him!

Thinking of it this way, Zhulan laughed to herself, and she must cheer up every day in the future!

Dinner was ready, Daqian, no, it’s Zhang Rongchuan. Rongchuan first drank a bowl of millet porridge with chicken shreds, and then drank Chinese medicine and fell asleep.

Zhang Rongchuan was only ten years old after all. Regardless of the fact that Zhu Lan was a grandmother in ancient times, a ten-year-old child cannot be left in the main house, even if he looks about the same size as a seven-year-old.

Zhulan placed Rong Chuan in the house where her eldest daughter Xuemei generally stays when she returns to her mother’s house. The newly built kang was built a few days ago and did not get wet after drying out, but it became hot when it was heated.

Fortunately, the Zhou family had a solid family background, there was extra bedding, and the original body was a clean and hardworking person, not to mention taking it out to dry on a good day. The bedding was almost the same as the new one.

After Rongchuan was settled, Zhulan and her family had dinner.

There was no such rule in the countryside that they can’t talk during meals, so Zhou Shuren talked about going to Jiangnan while eating.

The four sons of the Zhou family were dumbfounded. The old man had been a stable person all his life, so how could he become self-willed after becoming a grandfather?

The Eldest Zhou was worried about his father’s health. He just got sick. He said, “Dad will be traveling long distances while escorting goods. I’m afraid his body may not be able to take it.”

The second son, on the other hand, was rolling his eyes and felt that he should go out and have a look. He said, “If you are worried about Dad going alone, I can go with him and take care of him.”

The third son, Zhou Changlian, gritted his teeth and was unhappy with his Second Brother trying to rob him. He felt that the second son had changed – he used to never speak, but now he gets straight to the point. He said, “Dad, since the second brother’s wife is about to give birth, he won’t be able to leave. I’ll go with you instead. I can’t just bury my head in books all day. It’s a good opportunity for me to broaden my horizons.”

Praise me for my wit!

The fourth son, Zhou Changzhi, looked left and right and felt that the house had become livelier. He felt his cunningness rise as a result. With a frown on his face, he realized that it had been a long time since his parents had praised him for being the smartest, and he felt his status was at risk. His eyes darted around as he said, “Dad, the teacher said that the third brother is not focused and never gets everything right when he memorizes things. He needs to spend more time studying, or else he might lose more points on his exams. However, the opportunity to go to Jiangnan is rare. I want to go with you. The teacher also said that I have good writing skills, so I can write travel journals and bring them back for my third brother to read. We can both gain new experiences from this trip.”

Zhou Changlian, “…”

Thank you.

Zhulan, “…”

It seemed like, except for the eldest son who had normal intelligence, the other three sons were quite shrewd. The dinner they had even seemed to have the taste of palace intrigue.

Zhou Shuren, on the other hand, had bright and shining eyes. He has achieved good results in just a few days of education, which was commendable. However, the father still had some concerns. He said, “The eldest is in charge of the family, and the second should support him to prevent others from taking advantage of him. The third and fourth should read and memorize your lessons a hundred times from tomorrow onwards, and I will test you both when I come back. Now, let’s have our dinner.”

If reading and memorizing their lessons a hundred and twenty times was too much, then the father suggests doing it a hundred times instead. He has tried it himself and found that a hundred times is sufficient.

Except for Eldest Zhou, who hesitated to speak, the other three sons looked like they were having a toothache. They were thinking, “Dad, just tell us your plans directly. You’re making us walk on eggshells and step on each other’s toes.” The three brothers looked at each other and realized that the older brother should take care of the younger ones.

Second Zhou smiled and said, “Dad, I’ll make sure that both the third and fourth brothers read their books thoroughly, without skipping a single page.”

Let you two pit brothers, it’s good to hurt each other!